Palstar HF Auto

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kc1jps
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2024 4:23 pm

Palstar HF Auto

Post by kc1jps »

It is amazing how I post a QTH.com advertisement that I'm looking to buy an HF Auto tuner. Out of the woodwork I receive a dozen emails to my callsign email address (outside of QTH.com) and when I finally settle on a used HF Auto, the buyer throws a temper tantrum of sorts that I don't do Paypal friends and family. I said, "We are not friends and family." This is a purchase for goods. I then call him out on it and he tells me to terminate the transaction after I told him I would pay him any fee he had to cover. Then gives some story about the email address he was sending me was his "business PayPal" despite the fact he had already insisted that I send him PayPal friends and family to that same address.

You cannot make this stuff up. The guy's name is Jim P. Leininger, WX2JIM, out of New Jersey. I don't get the impression that he'd be acting like this so maybe... he doesn't even know he's being used as a straw pawn in a scam.

And his emails were very pushy to sell which I found almost to be desperate. Please be wary of anyone looking to duck the buyer's protections of PayPal is a red flag right off the bat, should tell you you're either being scammed, or the item is not as described.

People often overlook the fact that PayPal is an escrow service. They make sure that you get the item you paid for, and they make sure the Seller delivers on that promise. If you send money with "Friends and Family" you are legally making a gift of money had have no recourse whatsoever. It is questionable if the Seller would even have criminal liability for failing to deliver. Then you can fight it out with your credit card company who will say you made a gift. (And charge you a cash advance fee since Friends and Family is a "cash" gift not a purchase of goods/services)

I seriously don't even know why I try to buy used gear online. Most seem to be scammers or shady people.

*** As a second note, I received several emails from N3DQ, Adella Meuller (allegedly) which also followed the similar pattern. All communications ceased once I called this person out on their scam. ***

Please be careful.

Donald M. Brown
KC1JPS
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